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Showing posts from October, 2021

Cheetah 'Shoot' near Kuno village, Grok Suggests Course Correction

  Villagers shot videos and took pictures with their mobile phones as a coalition of cheetahs attempted to kill a calf on the outskirts of a village located at the edge of Kuno National Park . As the cheetahs pounced on the calf, the villagers yelled and pelted stones at the cheetahs as they ran into the forest. Although the cheetah trackers tried to stop the villagers, they were outnumbered. This incident has raised serious questions, especially at a time when the project is considered to be on the right track after the release of 17 cheetahs into the wild. Critics have once again asked: Are the animals safe? Will Kuno's villages face more cases of human-animal conflict? And the biggest question: Can Kuno support 17 cheetahs and provide enough prey to sustain them? Let's analyze this with the help of Grok , a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI. Stones Hurled At Cheetahs But first, the real-life drama on the dusty tracks of Sheopur, where Kuno is locate...

Save Snow Leopards to Avoid Himalayan Blunder

In a country where wildlife conservation revolves around tigers- the top predator playing a pivotal role in the health and diversity of an ecosystem,  the significance of  snow leopard -an important species, seems to be  ignored and overlooked. Shy and solitary, snow leopards are found  in India high up in the Himalayas, the source of most of our fresh water and 3 perennial rivers – the Ganga, Yamuna and Brahmaputra, lifeline of  over 500 million Indians. Without the snow leopard, the Himalayan ecosystem will be adversely affected, impacting  the rivers too. Healthy population of snow leopards also indicates good health of the Himalayas .Ignoring this eco -system would be like a Himalayan blunder.On  the World Snow Leopard Day this year on October 23, we  call upon  all those concerned with the issue to underline the importance of the elusive cat and not undermine it.    Protect Glaciers  to Save Leopards  Protecting the ...

Corbett Controversy: Misplaced Priorities of Politicians

One of the most celebrated tiger reserves of the world, Jim Corbett national park was in the news last week, albeit for the wrong reasons. Union minister of state for forest and environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey  had expressed his intentions to  rechristen   the reserve as Ramganga national park when there are a number of environmental issues pending in Uttarakhand . But the minister chose for renaming of the park which was almost immediately turned down by the state government. This is one of the top safari destinations of the country and very popular among tourists. When the state forest minister Harak Singh Rawat declined the Union minister’s idea on name change, he had in mind the potential threat to tourism activities. “A name change will hit tourism in Uttarakhand as the park is popular, among international tourists, as Corbett,” the minister said.  Interestingly, both the ministers, it seems, did not have on their priority list  the issues pertainin...

Cheetahs' Flight to India Delayed

Translocation of cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) to Kuno Palpur national park in Madhya Pradesh has been delayed. Though the government has been highlighting covid19 spread in Africa as the prime reason, India has yet to receive the permission of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna), an international agreement between governments to preserve plants and animals of the planet to ensure that the international trade in their specimens does not threaten their survival. India’s application to bring this spotted at is yet to be cleared by this international organisation.  India 's Application With CITES Pending  Cheetah was scheduled to have been transported from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno in November this year. In all 8 cheetahs were scheduled to be translocated from the two places. But India applied “quite late” for the relocation of cheetah leading to delay in the processing of the application. Now this fastest animal on...

Balloon Safari In Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve Creates Controversy

After four months of monsoon break when Bandhavgarh national park was thrown open for tourists again on October 1, a hot air balloon flying low over core area of the tiger reserve erupted controversy. A member of National Tiger Conservation Authority member Satyendra Tiwari   blew the whistle leading to questions whether hot air balloons should be allowed to fly over such a low height. Can Hot Balloon Fly over Core Area ?                                                                                                                     Some tourists on a tiger safari on gypsies also spotted the balloon.  But Tiwari, an NTCA member  clicked a picture of the   balloon ...